Next Generation Self-healing Concrete: Infusing Bacteria into Engineered Cementitious Composite

Benjamin G. Kaplan

Concrete is vulnerable to a variety assailants; yet, our dependence on it has never been

greater. Such aggressors cause concrete to crack and lose strength, accelerating the degradation process until the concrete is ineffectual. Self-healing stops this by remediating initial micro-cracks. Two of the leading approaches of self-healing are Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) and bacterial concrete. My study combined both and assessed the resulting hybrid in multiple environments. Resonant frequency values were measured for concrete beams before and immediately after application of tensile damage, and again after each beam was allowed to heal in its environment for 28 days. Additionally, absorption and compressive strength tests were performed on ECC, Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), and bacterial-ECC cubes in order to measure compatibility between ECC and bacteria. Results showed that ECC infused with Sporosarcina pasteurii showed statistically greater healing (p=0.042) than normal ECC. Furthermore, there was no significant difference for healing in an underground environment versus optimal laboratory conditions (p=0.44), previously unreported in literature. In the exposed environment, self-healing was negligible. Underground concrete foundations are found in nearly all infrastructure and residential projects, so underground self-healing is incredibly practical, and bacterial-ECC’s success in this environment lays the foundation for further field studies.

Honors and Awards

2014: ASM International Foundation Award for “Most outstanding exhibit in Material Science”

at Westchester Science and Engineering Fair Westchester-Rockland Junior Science and Humanities Symposium 3rd Place in Session

Intel Science Talent Search Research Report Badge Recipient Intel Science Talent Search Initiative Badge Recipient

Speaker at the Byram Hills Science Research Symposium 2013: Poster Presenter at the Byram Hills Science Research Symposium 2012: Poster Presenter at the Byram Hills Science Research Symposium Mentor Paramita Mondal, Ph.D. Associate Professor Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign